Remembrance Maze
by Angel of Japan
Summary: She remembered everything. She remembered what she had eaten on that morning, she remembered entering the Hokage's office, she remembered them talking, she remembered everything. Everything except why she had left that room, empty
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

It was after all of the pain.

After the village was rebuilt, after happiness was restored, and peace embraced Konoha.

After Sakura had called the Uzumaki's name, after Naruto returned and saved the day.

After everything.

"Hey Naruto! Don't eat the whole stand!"

It was a normal day in heir peaceful village. Naruto Uzumaki looked up from his ramen bowl, noodles still trailing down his mouth. He turned around to see his female teammate walking towards him with a smile.

"Fafuwa-cham!" The young man cried, mouth full of noodles.

It was at Konoha's favorite ramen stand, Ichiraku. Sakura Haruno entered the shop and sat down next to Naruto and his seven empty bowls.

"Naruto didn't I tell you to swallow before talking?"

The blonde obliged and replied, "But wouldn't you rather I want to say your name more than I want to eat?"

She giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Not when your noodles come out too."

He grinned and then returned to finishing his meal.

At that moment two jounin entered and sat down.

While deciding what to order, one of them, a brunette with spiky hair, noticed Sakura.

"Oi. Isn't that the girl who was in love with the Uchiha?"

His friend looked up as well and whispered, "Yeah. The one with pink hair right? It's kinda sad, 'cause he left and all."

"Yeah…but did you hear about her problem with-"

"Here's your order!"

They ended their conversation to take their meals and start eating.

Unfortunatelay, the subject of their talk had listened in.

"Naruto?" she asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Hm?" he replied, slurping up the noodles of his eighth bowl.

"Who is Uchiha?"

He was stunned that she would ask such a question. "Oh…Sakura-chan…" This was the first time since they had started going out that she had even mentioned that name.

_3 Years Ago_

"_Naruto!" the Godaime called._

"_What do you want Obaa-chan?! I'm about to head to Ichiraku!"_

_For the first time, as he entered the Hokage's office, he had not been hit or smacked for disrespecting Tsunade._

_She only sat there, elbows on her desk, with that stone face._

_That was when Naruto realized, something was wrong._

"_Naruto," she began, "Please sit."_

_He did. But the worry in her eyes made him disconcerted._

"_Naruto," her voice was hoarse, and barely above a whisper, "I'm only going to say this once."_

_He leaned forward, anticipation overcoming him._

"_Sakura asked me to extract the memory of Sasuke from her mind."_

_His eyes grew wide. _"No"

"_And so…I did. But—"_

"Naruto?" he was snapped out of the memory by the pink haired girl.

"Aren't you going to answer my question." She asked.

"He's," Naruto remembered what the teme had done to them, how much they had suffered just for _him._

"He's no one important."


	2. Chapter 2Hello

Chapter 1- Worst Reunion Ever

Sasuke Uchiha awoke from his slumber with a jolt. This was the second time this week that he had awoken earlier than the sun had, and it irritated him to a great extent.

He emerged from underneath his dark colored sleeping bag only to hiss as he felt the bite of the cold night air against his pale skin.

His other three comrades were sleeping in a makeshift circle around the fire, which by now was only smoldering embers. He sat nearest to it and started poking the fire into existence once again.

The dream that he had had that night was…awkward to put it lightly. He had dreamt a dream with no sounds, no voices, no colors, except for red. He had dreamt of a girl (He thought it was a girl). She was sitting on her knees, head down, with her hands covering her face. Her black and white image made her seem almost transparent to the red background. As if she would disappear.

Suddenly, her hands had dropped to her sides and her mouth opened wide as if to scream something. He had been slightly expecting to hear something, anything. He could even almost feel the sound vibrating near him, but not a whisper was heard. Nothing.

That was when the dream had finally ended.

What irked him more was that he had done nothing. Not that he had wanted to help her or anything, it was just that, he didn't move. It wasn't so much as he couldn't move, it was more of an 'I'm intrigued so I won't move' sort of thing. But although he had been mesmerized by this soundless girl, he had only wished he had looked away.

It had been so painful to see her in that state.

The only thing he could ask himself was…

Why?

________________________________________________________________________

Sakura Haruno was walking cheerfully through the streets of the Konoha marketplace off to the Hokage tower, a stack of books in her hands, and a wide smile placed upon her face.

Today was the day that she and Naruto would be going on a mission.

Together

Just the two of them

Finally

It had been almost two whole months since she and Naruto had had some alone time together and she had been anticipating this for so long.

'_We have always been Team Seven, just me Naruto, Kakashi and Sai.'_

Suddenly, a thought raced through her head.

_Aren't you missing someone?_

It had come almost like a jolt to her system. She had to grip the books a little tighter to keep them from falling, as her steps ceased in the middle of the street.

It had surprised her, no doubt, those words. Those simple words. She did not know what they meant. It had come along with a sort of tug on her conscience. She felt sad, no wait, guilty? She felt…something. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she didn't like the uneasiness. Or the feeling in the pit of her stomach.

What was it that made her feel this way?

________________________________________________________________________

Sasuke and his team, Hebi, were just about ready to leave their campsite. They had packed up the tents and sleeping bags, and their cooking supplies and such, and were simply putting out the fire when, Karin spoke.

"Sasuke-kun, I sense charka signatures headed this way."

"How far?" Sasuke asked in his curt voice.

"310 yards away."

"How many?"

Pause. "Two"

"Hn, we can take them"

"But—" Karin asked.

"I said we could take them." Sasuke growled, his voice growing a bit lower.

That had ended their debate.

Sasuke had been responsible for many deaths. He had murdered almost any man who had crossed his path and everyone who challenged him.

If he had been trialed for all of the crimes that he had committed,

Let's just say he wouldn't be here today.

The way he saw it, the people approaching him were already dead.

Just two out of a million

________________________________________________________________________

Sakura was trying to stop from laughing.

In the first two hours of her and Naruto's mission together, Naruto had already tripped, fallen, hit his head against a tree, gotten bitten by two squirrels, and been kissed for all of his booboos.

Yep, this was a mission with Naruto alright.

They had been assigned to travel to Sunagakure to give the Kazekage a scroll. It wasn't even an important scroll either. It was simply an invitation to this year's Obon Festival held in Konohagakure.

Hardly something that two Jounin should be doing.

This, of course, was something that her blonde haired teammate had been ranting about.

"Sakura-chaaaan! Why do we have to do this stupid mission? We should be helping out Kakashi-sensei with his S-rank one!"

"Naruto, you know that we have to follow orders," she answered while giggles escaped her lips.

"Butbutbut, Obaa-chan could have sent anyone! I'm her best ninja ever! I should be out on risky missions fighting the forces of evil!"

"Well, at least we get to go together." She answered in a sweet voice.

Naruto blinked then realized that she was right.

"Hey! That's right! I guess this mission isn't so bad after all!" He said with a grin.

Sakura giggled. He had been whining about this same topic ever since they had received the mission. But, she didn't mind. She had always loved Naruto for being himself.

'He's always been my one and only'

That was when it had happened again. The same thing that had happened that morning, only that it wasn't just a thought, it was a …memory?

The memory almost seemed to scream out to her, '_Liar!_'

It was so confusing.

It was a memory of her saying someone else's name with the same love and happiness that she now used when she called out Naruto's.

"Sasuke-kun!"

__________________________________________________________________________

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Jeez, Karin. Can you stop howling into my ear?" Suigetsu asked in a pained voice while covering his ears.

"Shut up you! I'm trying to ask Sasuke-kun something."

"Well you don't have to shout, I bet our targets could hear that screech of yours."

"YOU—"

"Suigetsu! Karin! Quiet! Get into position!" Sasuke interrupted in a hushed voice.

They both 'hmphed' and jumped into their respective trees to wait for the signal. They, and their teammate Juugo, were to be the backup. Sasuke would give them the signal and would jump down upon their opponents for a surprise attack if needed.

Of course, they weren't usually needed in one of Sasuke's fights.

But still, better safe than sorry.

________________________________________________________________________

"Naruto?"

The said man looked toward his teammate's direction.

"…Who is Sasuke?"

Naruto stopped walking, his eyes widened as he continued to stare at the girl. He was surprised by what he saw. Her eyes looked scared and lost, even confused. She looked like a knowledge hungry student begging her teacher for the answer to a challenging problem.

But then Naruto's eyes hardened as he thought of her question. How should he answer? Should he answer at all? What would she think?

What does she already know?

________________________________________________________________________

"Sasuke-kun they'll be here in about two minutes." Karin whispered from the trees.

Her information was ignored, for the recipient started to sense the charka signatures himself. His face did not portray anything, but on the inside he was surprised.

He knew those two signatures.

________________________________________________________________________

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, tentatively reaching out to him.

"…Let's keep going." He answered.

Sakura widened her eyes and stared as the blonde resumed trekking through the wilderness.

"W-What?"

"Let's go." He said, using a much more stern tone than usual.

"W-wait. That's it? You're not going to tell me anything?!" Her voice was growing louder and shriller.

"Sakura-chan we should go now." He said, still walking ahead of her.

"No we shouldn't! Why can't you tell me who he is?" She was shouting now.

"Sakura…"

She was a bit taken back because of the absence of the affectionate suffix but all the same continued her rant. "Why are you keeping this a secret from me?!"

He stopped in his tracks for the second time that morning. He sighed, and answered, "Sakura-chan, you know how you read books to obtain knowledge?" His cheerful demeanor had disappeared by now.

Sakura was still wide eyed, but nodded.

"But sometimes you come across a bit of information that is unneeded?"

She thought about then nodded once more.

"Well, this is that type of information, the kind you don't need."

She paused "But-"

He interrupted her, "If you ever need to know it though, like really need it, I will give it to you, just trust me ok?" He said with a half smile.

She looked down to the ground, not defeated, just disappointed. "Ok."

That ended their conversation.

And they continued their mission.

________________________________________________________________________

He could sense them coming at a slow pace. Why were they here? Did they come to capture him? Or was it just cruel coincidence that they were meeting today?

They'd be coming through the brush any minute now.

Just be patient

________________________________________________________________________

"Geez Sakura-chan! The plants are so thick!" He said, while pushing away leaves and branches from overgrown hedges and bushes. "How come there's so many plants?!"

"Naruto, stop whining. This is the forest. If it didn't have a lot of living, green stuff, it would be dead."

"Yeah! But why-"

He stopped, mid-sentence, after pushing away the last branch, which opened to show a clearing. But it wasn't the clearing that startled him. It was what was in the clearing that made him gasp.

"Oof! Naruto! Don't stop like that in the middle of-"

She stared, wide-eyed at the same sight seen by her partner.

'_Oh my gosh'_

__________________________________________________________________________

Sasuke stared at the two in front of him.

He smirked, it was different from his Genin smirk. No, it was now a sexy, seductive tug of the lips that promised fear and pain to any who beheld it.

"Hello, Kakashi."

________________________________________________________________________

There were at least fifteen bodies upon the ground. They were strewn out across the clearing's grass. Some had been thrown so that they now rested against the trunks of trees.

Judging from their forehead protectors, they were from Sand.

Blue eyes were wide with shock.

'_What happened here?'_

Being a medic nin, Sakura was the first to recover from the sight of blood and death. She immediately went to work, first finding the survivors, then justifying who needed attention quickly.

'_These aren't regular wounds,' _She thought to herself as she surveyed the damage done to one man whose lungs were punctured_, 'Their organs have been numbed and then scorched, but they look fine on the outside.'_

'_But the worst damage is around the actual open wound,'_ She had just finished stitching together the tissue of his respiratory organ, _'It looks like the attacker used a sword.'_

'_Who did this?'_

__________________________________________________________________________

Now, Kakashi was an Anbu, he knew that he was on a mission. He knew that he was disobeying mission orders. He knew that he shouldn't have gone against the rules. But, when he felt the familiar chakra of his former student, he couldn't contain himself. He bolted straight for it, Pakkun at his side.

He had sensed his student. He had known that he would be there.

But actually seeing Sasuke was still a surprise.

"Yo."

________________________________________________________________________

There had only been six survivors, and thanks to hours of healings, they were still alive. Now, as they rested against one of the oak trees that surrounded the grassy clearing, they were being interviewed about their near-death experience. Only two had actually seen the killer up close, but they seemed reluctant to give up any information.

"Could you at least give us a brief description?" Sakura asked, almost with a desperate expression. She had taken at least five minutes out of her life to try to get some info out of this guy. But all he ever did was stare blankly at her and claim that 'I can't.' Naruto wasn't having any better luck than she was though.

"I can't." There he goes again.

"Look, buddy," A vain was popping up on her 'average sized' forehead, "Unless we catch this guy, he's gonna continue on his rampage and keep on killing people left and right and right and left and it'll all be because you didn't tell us who did it!"

The guy looked like he was about to cry. Nobody could blame him though, the pink haired apprentice could bring mountains to their knees.

"So you better give the information that we need or so help me, I will smack it out of you 'cause I have wasted enough time with this interrogation and I have to get back to completing a mission! Got it?!"

"Black hair."

"Will you hurry—" She stopped her rant, "What?"

"Black hair and red eyes."

'_Itachi?'_ She thought with a jolt.

"But he wasn't in the Akatsuki."

________________________________________________________________________

(A/N) YES! Finally the first chapter is done! I will now be updating weekly (I'll try) and the next chapter will have a big fight scene between Kakashi and Sasuke! WOOWOO FIGHT!


	3. Chapter 3

It was early morning in the village of Konohagakure, hardly time for any _person_ to be awake. But, sadly, the Fifth Hokage had been up all night, tending to the troubles of her... beloved village. This 'work' was done, of course, while drinking almost a gallon of sake, sleeping on her desk, and calling Shizune in for more alcohol.

Yup, just an ordinary day in Konoha.

Tsunade was currently seated in the Hokage's chair, crouching over her desk, finishing up the last of her paperwork. Mission scrolls, maps, and lists of names were strewn out across the desk almost covering the entire wooden surface. Not that the desk was the only untidy space in the room. No, the many cabinets of the office were wide open with disorderly papers poking out in all directions, the books, which were supposed to be in their respective bookshelves, littered the floor making it almost impossible to step on the floor without stepping on them. Sake could be smelled in every corner of the room, and the empty bottles were spread out on the ground near the desk.

But, even in this unruly place, the Hokage continued to do her duties.

Amazing, isn't it?

"Shizune!" Tsunade called out. She had just finished signing the last piece of paper, and was stamping it with the Hokage's seal. The stack that she had just finished was to be carried out of the room (by Shizune) and sent to the receivers.

"Shizune!!!" The said woman had still to enter the room. There wasn't even a sound of footsteps, indicating that Shizune was not even on her way.

The Sannin groaned as she reluctantly got out of her comfortably warm seat. "_Where is that woman?"_

She slowly shuffled away from her desk. Her legs were stiff and asleep and she cursed the way her lower body disobeyed her commands.

Tsunade finally opened the door to the hallway, swinging it open with a loud 'thump' on the wall, as she readied herself to scream at her assistant.

"SHIZU-" She quickly stopped her shouting at the sight in front of her. She quickly regretted all the noise that she had made.

Shizune was sitting down on the couch, her head resting on her shoulder, arms crossed around her waist, sleeping like a baby.

Tsunade didn't blame the girl. They had both been working sunup to sundown for about a week now. They hadn't even gone home to take showers. Her former student worked so hard for her now, that the Godaime sometimes wished that the village was smaller so that there would be less paperwork for Shizune to carry and sort.

The Fifth sighed as she slowly and quietly reentered her own room to start cleaning up the mess that had been made over that past couple of days. She was carrying some of the medical textbooks in her arms, trying to put them back on the bookshelves, when one fell and hit her foot.

A string of curses went flying through her head, but she resisted the urge to shout at the fallen object. As the book had fallen, however, it had opened up to a certain page.

As she bent to pick it up, she accidentally read the title of the page.

'The Workings of the Mind'

As soon as the book was in her arms, she slammed it shut.

It is well known that medical ninja must be intelligent and they need to memorize countless amounts of information, from poisons to anatomy. The point is, your memory must be capable of storing large amounts of medicinal knowledge.

One of the reasons for Tsunade's success may have something to do with her almost photographical mind. Sure, she doesn't remember every single paper she's ever signed, or the number of sake cups she has ever drank from, but she nearly memorized her entire surplus of medical books. (She could even write her own.)

So, it is only natural that she knew the next few words that were written on that page.

After 'The Workings of the Mind',

These words would appear:

'Memory Loss'

You have no idea how much grief these few words give the female Sannin.

Tsunade placed the textbook upon its correct shelf, and sat down in her chair, swiveling her seat around so that it faced the window.

The sun was beginning to show its first few trickles of sunlight as it rose from behind green mountains. Its rays speckled little parts of the village here and there.

The view would have been considered beautiful to the Godaime if she wasn't caught up in a flashback of one day that she regretted so greatly.

"_Tsunade-sama!"_

_Said woman glanced up from her work to see the door slam open and her pink-haired apprentice enter._

"_What do you want, Sakura? I have work to do." She said as she refocused on her papers._

"_Tsunade-sama, this is important." Sakura's voice was stern and solemn as she crossed the distance between the door and workspace to push Tsunade's documents away._

_The Fifth Hokage now knew that something was seriously wrong. For her obedient apprentice to make such a defiant move, she knew that this was as close to an emergency as any could be. Tsunade's eyes rose to face her student's green ones. They were so…sad. The sadness also swam in a pool of desperation that could only be seen by only the most experienced in reading the pink haired girl's emotions. _

_Her bronze eyes then ventured to her mouth which began to open, "Shishou, I need to talk to you."_

_Knowing that she could not escape this predicament she replied, "Close the door and sit down."_

_Sakura sighed, she had cleared one obstacle, but now she had a mountain to clinb. She walked over to the door, closed it quietly, and sat down in one of the cushioned seats in the office near the Hokage's desk_

_Tsunade rested her elbows on her desk, hands crossed in front of her eyes, as a signal for Sakura to go on._

"_Shishou, please, I need you to erase my memories of _him._"_

_Not even a single delicate eyebrow rose upon her master's face. No one had moved. Tsunade simply gazed at her student, almost looking past her, through her, trying to find any doubt hidden anywhere. She was searching for any signs that would tell her that this was a sick joke, a lie, anything, except that this was the truth. But, with every probing second, Tsunade became discouraged for none could be found._

_She would not ask her student if she was sure; her examination had told her the answer to that question. A creak was heard along with a sigh, as Tsunade arose from her warm seat and strutted toward her bookshelf. After a couple seconds of rummaging around, she finally retrieved a rather large medical textbook entitled 'The Body – Volume 14 (Advanced Version)', blew the dust of its cover, and gave it to Sakura._

"_If you want me to do you this favor, you need to read this entire—"_

"_I've already done that."_

_Tsunade stared hard at her student, waiting for her to continue her explanation._

"_After lessons, I would stay after and read these books. That was the latest one that I read. Its how I know that erasing of memories is possible."_

_Both were locked into a battle of gazes that neither wanted to lose. As if the winner could make the other understand. The competition was only ended as Tsunade dropped the large manuscript on her desk._

"_Very well, Sakura," Tsunade said with a heavy heart, "Sit here."_

_Sakura abliged and sat down in the chair pointed out for her._

"_This will not be painless." Her tone was strict and to the point._

_Sakura nodded._

"_I will only erase the memories of Sasuke, and if I cannot do that without altering the past as you know it to be, I will replace those moments with ones of you and Team Seven, do you understand?"_

_Another nod was issued._

"_You will remember everyone but him, is this really what you want?"_

_There was a pause, but another nod was given._

"_Then I will s-start."_

_Tsunade did not have time to contemplate her decision, but started the procedure immediately. The process took hours, as the Hokage searched every last little memory for traces of the dark haired man, removing his face, or the smell of him, or adjusting her emotions and feelings to be for Naruto instead. But, suddenly while replaying last of the recollections, she stopped at one in particular._

_The night that he left_

_She watched as the young Sakura cried behind the retreating back of her love._

"_I-I love you with all my heart!"_

_She had nevery been told about this exchange of words the night he left, so Tsunade watched with astonishment._

_He slowly turned, and Tsunade thought she saw a bit of a smile on his face and regret in his eyes._

"_You're annoying."_

_Surprised, Sakura's eyes widened, but reverted back to their saddened state as Sasuke turned his back toward her once again._

"_I-If you leave, I'll scream!"_

_Tsunade watched with tears in her eyes. She wanted to scream and help her apprentice, back her up, anything, but she couldn't. And she knew that on that night, Sakura had had no one to encourage her. She had been alone to face the pain of seeing the one that she loved leave._

"_I—"_

_Sakura stopped, as she felt a prescence behind her and saw Sasuke disappear in front of her. _

_Tsunade's eyes widened in surprise as she heard the Uchiha whisper, "Thank you." And saw him gently knock out his pink haired teammate, never letting her fall, but placing her upon a bench. She did not see anything more than that, for this was Sakura's memory and her student had not been conscious beyond that point. But, Tsunade sensed that there was more to his last words to her than just simple gratitude._

_Tsunade knew she had to erase this memory, and replace it with one of Sakura simply going to bed, and waking up in her room, but she was hesitant. And for once, she doubted her actions. But, this caused a flux in the flow of chakra into Sakura's mind, which reminded the Godaime what she was supposed to be doing. And so she continued her task._

_At the end of that day, and near the beginning of the next, the Sannin finished. Sakura awoke hours later, asking where she was. Tsunade, trying to appear normal told her that she had fallen asleep while working and scolded her for working too hard. Telling her that she should go home, Sakura, still dazed, agreed. But not before noticing and wondering why her's and her teacher's cheeks were tear streaked._

Now, as Tsunade stares out into the sunrise, she worries. On the bottom of the same page that held the dreaded words, 'The Workings of the Mind,' were finely printed letters, small but important;

"Do not let the flow of chakra fluctuate."

_._


End file.
